The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-04-07
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
"Come Thou and All Thy House Into
the Ark.

Good Manners, Educate Them, and Pro-
vide Literally for Them-You are Re-
sponsible for Their Souls welfare.
DEs MONIES, Ia, March 27.-The Rev.
t. De Witt Talmage, d. D., preached n
this city this morning to vast congrg
ton. His text was Genesis vii. L. "Come
thou and all thy house into the ark" Il he
eloquent preacher said:
We do not need the Bible to prove The
| deluge. The geologists hammer n
nounces it. Sea shells and marine lormt-
tions on the top OF some oi the hig, est
mountains of the earh prove hat IL ome
time the waters washed over he top of lie
Alps and the Andes. In wla wa he
| catastrophe came we know not. Whether
by the stroke of a comet, or 10y flash ; Of
lightning changing the AIR iutD water Dy
| q stroke of the hand of God, like b. S rOSe
| of the AK between the horns of he o., ue
earth staggered. 10 meet the GAIA trotle
| God ordered great hip built. 1t Wa, 0
| be without prov, for it was to san % no
| shore. 1t was to be without h i'm, ior no
| human hand should guide it. was va At
| structure, probably as large us wo or three
Cunard steamers. 1t was the Great Eus ern
| of olden time.
The ship is done. The door is oDen.
The lizards crawl in. The cattle walk IN.
| The grasshoppers hop in. he bl ds fly
| in. The invitation goes forth TO Noah;
"Come thou and all thy house into the
| ark" just one human family embark on
| the strange voyage, and | he r the door
slam shut. great storm sweers along
the hills and bends the cedars until all he
branches snap in the gale. here is Il
moan in the wind like unto the moan of n
| dying world. The backness of the heav-
ems is shattered by the flare of the light
/ nings that look down into the water, and
! thr ghastliness on the face of the
/ mountains. How strnge ii looks! How
sutfocating the air seemsl The big drops
| OF rain splash upon the uptu ned faces of
those who are watching the tenn It.
Crash go the rocks in convulsion. Boom!
go the bursting heavens. The inhabitants
of the earth, instead of fleeing to house Top
and mountain top, as men have fancied,
sit down in dumb, white horror to die. For
when God grinds mountains to pieces and
lets the ocean slip lis cable, there is no
place for men TO fly to See the ark pitch
and tumble in the surf while from its
windows the passengers look out upon the
shipwreck of race and the carcasses of
dead world. Woe to the mountains! Woe
to the sea!
am no alarmist. When, on Sept. 90,
after the wind has for three DAYS been
blowing from the northeast, you prophesy
that the equinoctial storm is coming you
simply state a fact not to be disputed.
Neither am | an alarmist when say that
storm is coming, compared with which
Noah's deluge was but an April show r;
and that it is the wisest and safest for YOU
and for me to get safely housed for eternity.
The invitation that went forth to Noah
sounds in our ears: "Come thou and all
thy house into the ark"
Well, how did Noah and his family come
into the ark? Did they climb in at the
window or come down the roof? No; they
went through the door. And lust so, if we
get into the ark of Gods mercy it Will be
through Christ, the door. The entrance
to the ark of old must have been very
/. large entrance. We know thatit was, from
the fact that there were monster animals in
the earlier ages; and in order to get them
into the ark two and two, according to the
Bible statement, the door must have been
very wide and very high. So the door into
the mercy of God is a large door. We 90
in, not two by two, but by hundreds, and
by thousands, and by millions. Yea, all
the nations of the earth may 90 in, ten
millions abreast.
The door of the ancient ark was in the
side. SO now it is through the side Of
Christine pierced side, the wide-open
side, the heart side-that we enter. Aha!
the Roman soldier, thrusting his spear into
the Saviour's side, expected only to let the
blood out, but he opened The way to lei all
the world in. Oh, what a broad Gospel to
preach! If man is about to give an enter
tainment, he issues one or two hundred in
vitations, carefully put up and directed 10
the particular persons whom he W shes to
entertain. But God our Father makes a
banquet, and goes out to the front door of
Heaven, and stretches out his hands over
land and sea, and, with voice that pene-
trates the Hindoo Jungle, and he Green
land ice castle, and Brazilian grove, and
English factory, and American home, cries
out: "COme, for all thin,s are now ready"
1t is a wide door! The Old cross has been
taken apart, and its two pieces are stood
up for the door posts, so far apart that all
the world can come in. Kings scatter
treasures on days of great rejoicing. So
Christ, our King, comes and scatteIs the
jewels of Heaven. Rowland Hill said that
he hoped to get into Heaven through the
crevicos Of the door. But he was not
obliged thus to go in. After having
preached the Gospel in Surrey Chapel, 60
ing up toward Heaven, the gotekeeper cried:
"Lift up your heads, We everlasting gates,
and let this man come in" The dying
thief went in. Richard Baxter and Robert
Newton went in. Europe, Asia, Africa,
North and South America may vet 90
through this wide door without crowding.
Ho, every e!-all conditions, all ranks,
all people. Luther said that this truth was
worth carrying on ones knees frome Rome
to Jerusalem; but think it worth carving
all around the globe, and all around the
heavens, that "God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth III Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." Whosoever
will, let him come through the large door.
Archimedes wanted fulcrum on which to
place his lever, and then he said that he
could move the world. Calvary is the full
crum and the cross OF Christ is the lever;
and by that power all nations shall yet be
lifted.
Further, it is door that swings both
ways. do not know whether the door of
the ancient ark was lifted or rolled on
hinges; but this door of Christ opens both
ways. 1t swings out toward all our woes;
it swings in toward the raptures of Heaven.
1t swings in to let us in; it swings out to let
our ministering ones come out, All are one
in Christ Christians on earth and saints in
Heaven.
One army of the living God,
At his command we bow;
Part Of the host have crossed the food
And part are crossing now,
Swing in, o blessed door! until all the
earth shall go in and live. Swing out un-
til all the Heavens come forth to celebrate
the victory.
But, further, it is a door with fastenings.
The Bible says of Noah: "The Lord
shut him in." A vessel without bulwarks
or doors would not be safe vessel to go
in. When Noah and his family heard the